


Batgirls Like Bad Boys

by beeftony



Series: Outlaws Series [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 13:21:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeftony/pseuds/beeftony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie Brown goes out for groceries, but ends up going home with more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Batgirls Like Bad Boys

Stephanie Brown was accustomed to running errands for her mother. Back in the early days of her oh-so-happy childhood, her mother had been too busy fending off Steph's "loving" father and taking happy pills to make the pain go away to bother with things like groceries. She had learned what a PIN number was at age six, and shopping lists were among her earliest writing assignments. She had taken every opportunity to get out of the house.

Over the past year, however, her mother had been playing the role of the responsible parent, which was why it struck Stephanie as odd that she sent her out on a milk run. Or it would have, if Crystal Brown had not just spent the last three days on call at West Mercy hospital after Scarecrow set off a fear gas bomb in the middle of a mall. Her mother was exhausted, and she was happy to help. It was what she did, after all.

The clouds above her looked ready to burst into tears at any minute, and the forecast had said that Gotham was due for heavy rain tonight. The Compact was parked back at Firewall for maintenance, so she'd taken the bus to the east side of Gotham to meet a few friends. She had been on her way back home when her mother called and asked her to go shopping.

Somehow she'd ended up in Park Row, one of the more infamous areas of Gotham City. In the early 60s, it was the place to be, but when the rich people moved to other parts of the city and the surrounding countryside, property values plummeted and the houses that weren't abandoned entirely were taken over by criminals and used for everything from drug deals to underground brothels. As a result, this once proud neighborhood had had earned the ugly moniker of "Crime Alley."

It held particular notoriety for one man, who had lost his parents in an alley behind the Monarch Theater and devoted his life to fighting crime while dressed as a bat.

Being out at night in this part of town was usually a bad idea in Gotham, but she could handle herself in or out of costume. That was also what she did.

She strode up the nearly abandoned sidewalk to the neighborhood market, when her highly trained eye noticed a woman disappear into an alley way too quickly to have simply ducked into it on her own. She sighed. ' _Here we go_...'

She passed close enough to the doors that they opened in anticipation of her, but she strode past them and over to the alley, where she peeked around the corner and discovered that all was not right.

"Hey, baby," one of society's rattier members sneered as he pressed her up against the wall of the alley, flanked by half a dozen other street punks. "I think you know what's about to happen, so don't scream and this'll all be over quick."

Stephanie ducked back and glared at the opposite side of the street. Sexual violence was a particularly touchy subject for her, and even though her experience had not happened in an alley, she could not abide this. Groceries could wait.

' _And of course you_ had _to leave your batsuit at the dry cleaners, didn't you, Steph?_ '

Actually it was still at Firewall, but it might as well have been in Timbuktu given how unavailable the disguise was right now. This was _supposed_ to be her day off.

' _Okay, think_ ,' she narrated internally as she peered back around the corner. The woman was petrified, not daring to make a move. She had yet to cry out for help, which meant she was willing to follow instructions from an armed man. That had never been Stephanie's style, but it seemed to be keeping the woman alive, so who was she to judge?

' _There's too many to sneak up behind him and give him a whack on the head_ ,' she told herself. ' _And most of them are armed, which means if I go charging in they'll all have time to get a bead on me_.' She sighed. This was going to require some improvisation.

Fortunately, that was another thing Stephanie Brown did well.

"Open your mouth," the leader ordered as he unzipped his pants. "And don't bite down or I'll make sure and kill you slowly."

"Hey!" she shouted, too angry to think of a clever witticism. Seven pairs of eyes turned around to face her.

She might have gotten more of a reaction if she'd been wearing a bat across her chest, but it got their attention off the other woman at least, so she considered that a success.

"This neighborhood's not a good place to be on a school night, baby doll," the thug mocked. "Why don't you run along home now? This ain't none of your business."

"It never is," she muttered, then more loudly: "I'm making it my business. Let her go."

He grinned smugly. "Or what?"

"Or nothing," she replied, cocking her hips. "Let her go... and you can have _me_ instead."

That got her the reaction she was looking for, which was several flabbergasted expressions on the gang's faces. "You serious?"

"Oh, come on," she replied in a more sultry voice, pouting and sticking a finger on her lower lip. "This woman's just street trash. Wouldn't you rather have a good, wholesome college student? I won't tell anybody... I promise."

' _Laying it on a_ little _thick there, Stephanie_.'

Truth be told, this whole plan made her want to throw up and curl into a ball. But she would never have become Batgirl if she had not possessed the strength to put her own fears aside for the sake of appearing brave in front of others, and right now everything depended on keeping up the act long enough to get in close.

After a moment of consideration, the gang leader nodded. "You," he ordered, turning around, "beat it." The woman was only too happy to run out of there, high heels and all. He turned his gaze back to her. "Get over here."

She obeyed, walking with a feigned nervousness and keeping her knees close together. The gang members encircled her, just as planned. She spied the leader's lecherous grin when he lifted up a corner of her shirt...

...then watched it twist into a grimace of pain when, in one smooth motion, she grabbed his index and middle finger and turned around, pulling back on them until they bent further than nature intended, bringing the thug to his knees. She snap-kicked his chin, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

"Augh, you _bitch_!" he shouted. "Get her!"

She turned back around to face the other gang members and grinned like the devil, pressing a fist into her palm and cracking her knuckles. They hesitated for a moment, not having expected such competent resistance from somebody who looked like her. Then they all charged at once.

Stephanie was ready for them. She grabbed one of the thugs by the shoulders and flipped over him in a maneuver she had learned by studying Dick, driving her feet into his back. He toppled face first into the leader, rendering both of them unconscious.

The others began pulling out weapons. The two in front of her had a pipe and a nightstick. One had a chain, and the other pulled out a knife. The fifth one had a gun, so she went after him first. Before he could get a shot off, she slid on the ground between his legs, then rolled backwards and stood on her hands, kicking him in the small of his back with one foot. He staggered forward, and she was right side up again by the time he turned around, leveling the gun. It would have made a difference if the sole of her shoe wasn't already two inches from his nose.

He hit the asphalt like a sack of rocks, and the gun clattered to the ground. She kicked it to the other end of the alley, and then the rest of them moved in.

Ducking under a swing from the pipe, she sidestepped the chain and swatted away a strike from the nightstick, intercepting his wrist with the back of her own. She turned around, pressing her back against his chest and elbowing him in the gut. He leaned forward instinctively and she grabbed his arm, then brought her knee up past her head and broke his nose. Planting one leg between his, she shifted her weight and threw him over her head, slamming him into the ground.

Still holding his arm, she pivoted quickly then descended and buried her knee in his chest. She finally wrenched the weapon free of his grip, and smacked it into his temple with just enough force to not shatter his skull.

She stood, ready for the next one.

Knife-guy started swiping at her, so she had to take a short leap back. Snaking around him, she intercepted him at the wrist and smashed the nightstick into his forehead. He stubbornly held on to the knife, so she whacked the inside of his elbow with her weapon and wrapped her arm around the back of his neck. She hopped off the ground and let gravity do the rest, which sent him into a front flip that ended with his skull hitting the pavement, knocking him out cold.

Only pipe-man and the chain wielder were left. She twirled her legs above her and kipped upwards, preventing them from getting close while she recovered. Kicking off one of the walls, she aimed a flying roundhouse kick at the man with the chain, who turned out to be quicker than she thought and wrapped her leg with his weapon. She crashed painfully to the ground, and his partner went for the kill, raising the pipe high above his head.

Steph hurled the night stick into chain-guy's gut, and he doubled over just in time to get whacked in the middle of his back by the pipe. Now free, she somersaulted out of the way of a second blow, which sparked against the asphalt and warped the end of the makeshift weapon. She put her remarkable leg strength to use and stomped on the middle of the pipe, bending it beyond usefulness, before elbowing its wielder in the nose. He brought his hands up to halt the spray of blood and waddled around, defenseless.

By this time the other guy had recovered and charged at her like a raging bull. She rolled over his back, and he proceeded to smack his forehead straight into the bricks. He staggered backward, slowly turning around as he swung wildly. She easily swatted his fists aside, then struck him in the chin with a rising knee. A spin kick to the chest dropped him for good.

She faced down the final gang member, who had picked up the abandoned chain. He swung it haphazardly in a vertical strike, which she effortlessly sidestepped. She ducked under the follow-up swipe, and continued to dodge until he finally smacked himself in the head. She surged forward, grabbing the chain for herself and using it to cut off the thug's air supply from behind. She took care not to crush his windpipe, and relented once he flopped to the ground, alive but not well.

' _Well_ ,' she thought, satisfied, ' _That takes care of_ —'

_Bang!_

She turned around and saw the leader pointing a gun at her with the hand that she had not mangled. Her hands searched for bullet holes, but could not find any. Also, there was no smoke emanating from the gun. Her questions were answered a second later when the scumbag toppled over, screaming his head off and clutching his thigh.

"You need to pay more attention to your surroundings," a voice said from above. She looked up and saw a dark figure drop into the alleyway. One that was not wearing a cape, but a black leather jacket and a...

Red Hood. Jason Todd. She had heard enough about him that her grip on the nightstick tightened for a moment.

"Oh pipe down, Jerry," he said over the gang leader's howls. "I didn't even hit an artery. Cops will be here in five. You should be able to keep the leg." He kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious. "Now shut up."

She debated what to do with this unexpected development. All she really knew about Jason Todd was that he had been the Robin after Dick, and he had died tragically after being beaten within an inch of his life, only to come back later.

' _Doesn't_ that _sound familiar_?' a part of her chimed in, and she cringed, not wanting to think about Black Mask or Africa right now.

She knew that he had rejected Bruce's no-killing philosophy and made a habit of gunning down street crooks. He was a stone-cold murderer, and his intentions were a mystery.

Then again, he _had_ let the gang leader live. He had also saved her life, so it was only polite to hear him out.

"How much of that did you see?"

"All of it," he replied, and she could _hear_ the smirk in his voice. "Nice work... Batgirl."

She inhaled sharply and her heart jumped, but she quickly contained her reaction. It wasn't _that_ surprising that he figured out who she was. Like her, he had been trained by the World's Greatest Detective.

She put a hand on her hip. "What makes you think I'm Batgirl?"

"Well first of all..." He gestured to her handiwork. "And your first question wasn't to ask me who I was, which means you already knew."

"Okay fine, you got me," she muttered, crossing her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been trying to get this guy for weeks," Jason responded, gesturing with his still smoking pistol to the unconscious would-be rapist. "Whatever you might have heard about me, I _really_ don't like it when this sort of stuff happens to women."

"That makes two of us."

"So what brings you to the neighborhood?" he inquired, tucking the pistol into a holster under his jacket.

"Grocery shopping," she answered, cleaning the handle of the night stick with her shirt. "I was just about to go into this market when I came across these punks."

"Well, unless you want to explain to the cops how some random blonde in civvies laid an almighty smackdown on these guys, we'd better book it."

"I could just tell them you saved me."

He laughed. "I don't have the same rapport with Gotham's Finest as the rest of the family. There's at least five active warrants out for me."

"That's just because you don't usually leave survivors, from what I hear." She nodded at the fallen gang leader. "Why _did_ you leave him alive, anyway?"

Jason shrugged. "Didn't want to make a bad first impression."

"Well, let's compromise, then. We don't have to stick around, but at least help me tie these guys up."

He produced several zip-ties. "With pleasure."

* * *

"You know, if you were gonna stick around anyway you could have helped me talk to the cops," said Steph roughly thirty minutes later after the five-o had departed with the entire gang in custody. She had not intended to stay herself, but the squad car was already there by the time she finished restraining everybody.

Jason emerged from his shadowy hiding place, from which he had watched her spin a daring tale of being rescued by a mysterious masked man. The thugs who were conscious had backed up this narrative on the spot, as it allowed them to avoid admitting that the blonde had completely torn them apart. As for the ones who had yet to wake up, their head injuries would make any conflicting testimony easy to dismiss.

He had removed his helmet and all other portions of his costume that were indistinguishable from civilian clothes, and walked with her towards the grocery store. "Like I said, I'm even less popular with the GCPD than the original Red Hood."

"I know, but I had to make up a bunch of things because I barely know you."

"Well, they were flattering things, so I don't really mind." He grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Or is that your way of saying to you wanna get to know me?"

"You do make an interesting first impression, I'll admit."

Jason laughed.

"So really, how _did_ you know I was Batgirl?" she asked as they entered the deserted grocery store, grabbing a cart. "You're not exactly on speaking terms with the rest of us Bats."

"Neither are you," he said, and she had her answer.

"Aha!" She pointed at him. "You've been spying on me."

He wrinkled his nose. "More like keeping tabs. And if it makes you feel any better, it wasn't just you I've been keeping an eye on."

"It doesn't, but I'll let that slide since Bruce spies on all of us." They turned down the baking aisle, and Stephanie immediately procured three bags of waffle mix. "Were you following me tonight?"

He shook his head. "I told you, I've been after Jerry Travers for weeks now. He was a wanted serial rapist who preferred to share his spoils with his gang. They're a bunch of misogynist crapsacks who deserve way worse than what you gave 'em."

The passion in that statement gave Stephanie pause. From what she'd heard, mostly from Tim, Jason Todd was a gun-toting son of a bitch who killed people. But to hear him tell it, he sounded almost justified. It helped that he hadn't gone all the way.

"And yet you still think I did a nice job."

He shrugged, then deposited two loaves of bread into the cart. "You used an angle that I wouldn't have thought of, much less been able to implement. You got them to let their guard down, and you wiped the floor with them. That was really nice work."

"Um, thanks," she replied, and meant it. "The rest of the Batfam wouldn't have been that understanding." They were passing the fridges at the back of the store, and she grabbed a gallon of milk as well as a dozen eggs. "I'm pretty sure _Tim_ would have thrown a fit."

"That's right, you used to date Tim," he said, as if he had just remembered it. "And yeah, you don't have to tell me about being looked down on for extreme methods. Even when I was Robin, Bruce was always getting on my case."

"Something else we have in common," she remarked, grabbing a ten-pack of yogurt. "Actually my very brief tenure as Robin ended just like yours."

He gave her a sympathetic look. "Joker?"

"Black Mask."

"That dumbass? I stole Kryptonite from him once just to fuck with him."

"He's not so much of a dumbass when he tortures you for days on end with a power drill," she replied, wincing sharply through gritted teeth. "From what I've gleaned that was right before you came back."

His features were now set in a glare. "Next chance I get I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."

"Not that I want you to, but why?"

If tomorrow's headline was "Red Hood Strikes Again," Batman would surely throw her in the pit of shame for having inspired it. The pit was metaphorical, and consisted mostly of metric shitload of guilt that would be thrown her way.

"Because the fact that Joker's still alive should tell you that Batman never avenges us when it really counts."

"Is that why you're so angry with him?"

"Among other reasons, yes."

"Well, as much as I appreciate the sentiment, I think Catwoman already beat you to it."

"When?"

"Black Lanterns."

"Oh, right. You know, I don't even remember where I was during all that. Black rings mess with your memory." They were nearing the sandwich meats, and he grabbed several packages of ham as well as some sliced cheese. "I'm sure Bruce hasn't told you very much about me."

"Actually Barbara filled me in on most of it," she explained. "And I saw you on the news when you were running around with that Scarlet chick. That outfit looked ridiculous, by the way."

"S'why I went back to the classic," he said, gesturing with his hands still in his jacket pockets.

She nodded. "I like it. Very biker chic."

He smirked.

They passed the rest of the shopping trip in relative silence, picking out various foods. When they got to the register she started to pull out her wallet, but Jason stopped her. "I got this."

"You sure? Because if you don't think I can pay, I'll have you know I've been saving up my allowance all week."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I highly doubt you get an allowance."

"Okay, so it's scholarship money that probably should have gone towards books but I'm really good about budgeting it, I swear."

"I said I've got it," he repeated, handing a wad of bills to the cashier. With his reputation a credit card would likely have been a liability.

Jason finished bagging the groceries and gathered them in his arms. They stepped out of the store and into the torrential rain that had just decided to start pouring.

"Aw, man!" Stephanie complained as her hair started to cling to her face. "Now I have to walk home in this."

"My place isn't far from here," he offered, gesturing with his head. "Wanna wait out the storm there?"

She raised an eyebrow. "As fascinating as it's been interacting with you for the first time, I _am_ trying to stay on the rest of the family's good side. I don't think going home with you would improve my already spotty reputation."

"What they don't know won't hurt 'em," he insisted. "Besides, I'm holding your groceries."

"Point," she admitted, raising a finger. She sighed. "Okay, fine. Let's just get going before I change my mind."

"Atta' girl," he said with a smile that was a little too wide for her taste.

* * *

"Well, here we are," Jason announced as he skillfully unlocked the door while still holding two armfuls of groceries. He opened the door with a kick. "Home sweet home."

Based on the part of town they were in, Stephanie had been expecting a rat hole, which she was prepared for, having stayed in worse. What she saw instead put most five star hotels to shame.

The apartment followed a very simple red and white color scheme. A well-stocked, modern kitchen lay to the left, with a restroom to the right and a living area immediately in front of them. There was a television on the back wall, with a red leather couch facing away from the door. To the left of that was a large window, and to the right was what Stephanie assumed was the bedroom.

The floors were all hardwood, which had to be a bitch to dust, but went well with the aesthetic. Weapons from various cultures adorned the walls, and there was a surprisingly good collection of art. Overall, it was one of the best places she could imagine to weather a storm.

"So are you gonna come in or just drip on my doorstep all night?"

Steph jumped when she realized that she had been standing there gawking at Jason's apartment for a solid minute, then entered, shutting the door behind her. "Sorry, it's just that I thought you lived in a condemned building or something."

"It _was_ condemned before I bought it," he said, putting away the groceries. "This is the building I lived in as a kid, before Batman found me."

"Well, you've definitely made some improvements."

He smirked. "You don't know the half of it."

She stretched her wet shirt and frowned. "Change of clothes?"

"Bedroom." He pointed at the door to the right of the couch.

"Thanks."

After making her way into said bedroom, she called out: "Hey, none of your pants fit me so I'm just gonna hang out in one of your shirts, is that okay?"

He shrugged. "Suits me fine."

She exited the bedroom a minute later wearing only his tee-shirt and holding a pile of wet laundry. She was quite a bit smaller than him, so the shirt hung down to about mid-thigh. She had removed her bra and panties, which was very intriguing to certain parts of him. However, taking things in that direction was probably not the best thing to do to a girl he'd just met that night, especially someone with a connection to people who would be very angry at him for taking advantage.

"Here," he said, extending his hands to take her wet clothes. "Sure you don't want some underwear or something?"

Her face turned bright scarlet. "You noticed that, huh?"

"Well, I _am_ holding the ones you were wearing." He motioned his head downward. "And you're still cold."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Just don't peek and we'll be fine."

"Don't worry," he said, depositing her clothes into the washer/dryer combo that was tucked off to the side of the kitchen. "I'm not gonna take advantage of you. I like having my face un-punched by Batman, thank you very much."

"I think Oracle would come at you harder."

He laughed. "Like I said, not gonna test it. Besides, it wouldn't be right."

"I'll be more convinced when you stop looking so happy to see me," she said, singling out a specific part of him with her eyes.

Now it was his turn to blush. "I'm gonna go change," he muttered, disappearing into the bedroom. Steph took this time to move over to the couch. When he emerged a couple minutes later, he was wearing flannel pajama pants and nothing else.

' _So_ that's _what it feels like to have your eyes bug out of your head_.'

For all of Tim's attractive qualities, he had always been... skinnier than the rest of the men in the Bat family. While she found him cute anyway, the sight of Jason Todd with his shirt off was exciting her for reasons she had not known existed before. Out of all of them, he possessed the figure necessary to actually fit in Bruce's costume without having to use a ton of padding. Between those arms and that chest and those _abs_... well, she might have to excuse herself to the bathroom for a few minutes.

He noticed her gawking and smirked, and she quickly reconstructed her poker face.

"You had at least five shirts in that closet last I checked."

He shrugged. "Not used to company. I can put one on if you want."

' _But then how will I commit that greek statue of a body to memory for when I'm getting to know a shower nozzle later?_ ' she decided not to say. "Eh, you're fine. Between the two of us we've got a complete outfit."

He chuckled and hopped into the air, then crashed down on the couch next to her.

"How'd you afford a place like this, anyway? I don't imagine Bruce cut you into the will."

"I got to know Talia al Ghul pretty well over the course of about five years," he answered. "She gave me everything. Loads of money, gadgets, underworld connections, training... everything I needed to take on Batman."

"That didn't go so well for you, did it?"

"I'm done trying to take revenge on Bruce. Now I'm just doing what he never could."

"You mean murdering criminals?"

"More like controlling crime. Like an infestation. You have to keep the population under control or they just run wild."

"You really have spent time with Talia."

Jason laughed. "Anyway, I just use this spot as a home base and go on patrol most nights. Anything more ambitious than that is bound to get me on the bat-radar, which is something I'm not ready for."

"Well, you landed on my radar."

"You gonna turn me in?"

He had clearly meant it as a joke, but the remark caused her to turn introspective. She looked down at where she had intertwined her hands in her lap.

"You saved my life earlier tonight," she said finally. "So I'll at least wait until my clothes dry."

"Thanks for the warning." He leaned back, unconcerned.

"So you grew up here?"

"Yeah, it was my parents' place. They were gone by the time I was ten. I was basically squatting here when I met Batman for the first time."

"I think I heard about that," she replied once she swallowed the drool that was building up the more she stared at him. "Did you _really_ steal the tires off the Batmobile?"

He chuckled.

"Sorry about your parents."

Jason shrugged. "I don't really remember my dad all that well. He worked for Two Face for a while, before Harvey offed him. My mom was around more, but she got sick and died before he did. It's probably a good thing I didn't spend too much time with him."

"You can say that again." She tugged on the bottom of the shirt so as not to reveal everything. "At least you didn't have _my_ dad."

"Your dad was Cluemaster, right?" She nodded. "That sucks."

"Yeah, he wasn't exactly fun to have around," she muttered, tucking her legs inside the shirt. "That's why I became Spoiler. To 'spoil' his crimes." She glanced at him and smiled. "Kind of a lame name, I'll admit."

"Hey, bad puns come with the territory," he said. "And you're not the only one with bad parents. My birth mother sold me out to the Joker."

Her eyes got wide. "Right before he...?"

Jason nodded. "He beat me half to death with a crowbar and left us both in a warehouse with a bomb to finish the job." He scowled in the television's general direction. "Batman didn't get there in time."

"And you blame him for that?"

He shook his head. "I forgave him for that a long time ago. It wasn't his fault."

"But you still think he should have killed Joker?"

"Yeah."

She nodded sympathetically. "I'll admit I was kinda sore at first that he didn't make Black Mask pay for what he did," she responded. "But I put a lot of thought into it and, well... murder is kinda what motivated him to become Batman in the first place. It's not just that he won't cross that line, it's that he _can't_ do that and still be Batman."

"I'm not talking about killing Penguin or Two-Face," he rebutted, getting a little agitated. "Just Joker. You can't tell me the world wouldn't be better off without him."

"I agree with you," she admitted. "But Bruce will never see it that way. So you either accept that or you'll just keep being angry at him forever."

He huffed and said nothing else for a while.

_All the single ladies_

_All the single ladies_

The sound of Beyoncé split the apartment, and Steph scrambled forward to grab her phone, accidentally exposing herself in the process. Jason looked away quickly out of respect, but could not help catching a just a little bit, and what he saw was enough to induce a slight quiver.

"Hi Mom!" she greeted with a combination of cheer and nervousness. "What's up?"

" _Stephanie Alice Brown_."

Uh-oh. Full name. Not good.

"Yes, dearest Mother?" she replied in the sweetest of tones.

"Curfew was twenty minutes ago, young lady."

"Yeah, about that..." she explained. "I'm waiting out the storm at a... friend's house. I might just end up spending the night."

Jason's eyes widened at that bit of news.

Crystal did not sound amused. "Stephanie, you have classes in the morning."

"Not till eleven!" she protested. "That's plenty of time to get back home with the groceries."

She heard her mother sigh on the other end of the phone. "Alright. Just call ahead next time, okay?"

"You got it, Mom," she answered. "Talktoyousoonbye." She glanced over at Jason to see that he had raised both eyebrows and was staring at her questioningly. "What?"

"I wasn't aware you wanted to make this a slumber party."

She set the phone back down on the coffee table and put a hand over her forehead. "I don't know why I said that," she admitted with a sigh. "But I've already told her that so I can't go back home tonight."

"Well, if you really wanna stay here, you can take the bed. I'll sleep out here."

"Uh, thanks," she replied. "You wanna stay up and talk some more?"

He gave her a very serious look. "Believe me, if we keep going down this road, it's not going to take you anywhere you'll like. Besides, you've got class in the morning."

"Okay," she said, getting up and walking over to the bedroom. "Goodnight."

"G'night," he echoed before lying down on the couch and turning on the TV.

* * *

Roughly thirty minutes later, Stephanie came to the conclusion that she would not be able to sleep.

The bed literally felt like she was sleeping on a cloud made of silk. It was the kind of bed she had always fantasized about, and would be asking one of the richer bat family members to get her for her birthday. But her internal clock was screwed up enough that her body would not allow her to slip into unconsciousness until at least four in the morning, and it was only half past eleven according to the alarm clock.

' _Fuck_ _this_.' She rose and ventured back out into the living room to find that Jason was wide awake as well.

"Something wrong?"

Steph shook her head. "Can't sleep."

The look he sent her way told her that he understood exactly why. "Me either."

She made for the couch, and he sat up to allow her to sit down next to him. "What are we watching?"

"News," he answered, gesturing with the remote. "Waiting for them to report on what happened earlier."

Steph tucked her hands in her lap to keep the shirt from riding up. She glanced over at him and stared until he responded.

"What's up?"

"Okay, I know you said I wouldn't like where this would end up, but there's something I have to ask you."

He waited for her to continue.

"You kill people," she stated plainly, and he offered no objections. "And I'm sure you have your reasons for it, it's just... I've had it drilled into my head by Batman that killing is wrong and we should always spare our enemies because that's what makes us better than them."

Jason scoffed at the notion.

"And yet here I am in your apartment, wearing your shirt, sitting on your couch, talking with you like we've known each other for years even though we just met tonight," she continued. "Part of what I've been trying to do as Batgirl is see the good in people, so I guess I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt here. And you _did_ save my life, so I don't really have anything to hold against you."

She frowned and stared at the floor. "But I can't sleep in your bed without knowing why it is you decided to abandon everything Batman ever taught you."

He was silent for a few moments. "Have you ever heard of a man named Felipe Garzonas?"

Stephanie shook her head.

"He was a serial rapist whose father had diplomatic immunity, so he couldn't be arrested on U.S. soil," he began, leaning back into the couch. "There was a girl named Gloria who hung herself after he had already raped her twice. Batman and I went after him, and I got there first." His features turned dark. "He fell to his death from twenty two stories up."

"Did he really fall?" she questioned. "Or did you push him?"

"Batman asked me the same thing," he answered, closing his eyes. "And to this day I just... don't know. I was so blind with rage that one second he was backing up, and the next thing I know Batman was asking me why he took a dive on the pavement."

She said nothing.

"That was the day I learned that some people just deserve to die," he continued, staring at the TV. "There are some things that can't be excused, and violating another person like that is one of them." His face was calm, but the slight choke in his voice betrayed the emotions behind his words.

"But you've killed people for a lot less than that."

"I only kill the people who deserve it," he said, shrugging. "I don't lay a finger on the innocent, and everybody I do kill has it coming."

"And who made you Judge, Jury and Executioner?"

"Whoever brought me back from the dead, I guess," he answered. "I shouldn't be alive right now. I wouldn't have been brought back if it wasn't for a purpose. And I really think this is it."

Stephanie sighed. "I'm beginning to see why the rest of the family never associates with you."

"If you wanna leave, there's the door."

" _But_ ," she added, raising a finger. "I get kept out of the loop a lot because they don't think I can cut it either. Do you know what any of them would have said to me if they were the ones who saw me in that alley?"

"What?"

"Bruce and Dick would have lectured me, Tim would get overprotective, and Damian would find some excuse to call me a harlot."

Jason chuckled.

"But you... complimented me," she continued. "You told me I did a nice job. And I appreciated that."

"You're welcome."

"And to be perfectly honest? If I could have killed my father when I was younger, I would have done it," she admitted. "That pathetic excuse for a man took out his frustration at Batman on me and my mother, and I didn't feel like he deserved to live." She set her features in a glare. "One time I paid a prison guard to lock him in the visiting room for ten minutes while I beat the living shit out of him."

"Ha!"

She smiled faintly. "I've... moved past that anger somewhat in the last few years," she continued, softening her countenance somewhat. "But some nights I just lie awake and think about how I'd like to make him pay for everything he's done." She chuckled darkly. "Then I remember he's already rotting in prison. He caused all the trouble I've been through this last semester, you know."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he hired a bunch of college kids in super-suits to rob Federal Reserve banks, but it was just a ploy to get my attention," she elaborated. "When I finally saw him face to face, he dosed me with ground up Black Mercy and almost escaped before I hit him with a gooperang."

Jason's eyes grew wide. "Black Mercy? Shit. I saw firsthand what that stuff did to Superman back when I was still Robin. How'd you survive?"

"Dr. Mid-Nite recommended a blood transfusion to clear it out of my system, and my Mom happened to be working that night," she explained. "But I got to live out some pretty cool fantasies while it lasted."

"I'll bet."

"And you know what? Not one of those fantasies involved killing my father," she finished. "So I know that I don't really have that in me. But I'm not going to judge you if that's the path you want to follow. I get judged enough for _my_ decisions."

He smirked. "Well I appreciate that."

"And hey: you let that scum live earlier tonight because you didn't want to kill him in front of me," she said. "So you can't be that far gone."

"If you say so."

They watched the news together in comfortable silence, having told each other everything that needed to be said.

* * *

At some point over the last two hours, Stephanie had rested her head on his shoulder. She had then moved an arm over his torso and pulled herself in, and before he could stop himself his arm was wrapped around her, holding her close.

And that was how he ended up snuggling with a girl he had barely met.

There was a way this was supposed to play out. He would cough suggestively, she would awaken slightly embarrassed, and then they would never speak of this again. But as his fingers tingled with the desire to play with her hair, all the normal rules went out the window.

He didn't have a type. There was the obligatory crush on Barbara that all Robins shared, and his tryst with Talia was hardly worth mentioning, motivated mostly by their mutual desire to get back at Batman, by any means necessary. Still, Stephanie Brown should have never fit the bill, and yet somehow she was absolutely perfect.

She was reckless. She was impulsive. She dealt with the thugs in that alley with far more brutality than anybody trained by Batman would be expected to. She had managed to hold herself back before she crossed the line, but then so had he once upon a time.

And that was what it all came down to, really: they had so much more in common than either of them could have imagined.

So he would allow her to cuddle with him as long as she needed. It was just intimate enough that it did not have to mean anything when she woke up. And she looked almost like an angel.

An angel who was snoring and drooling on his belly.

"Alright, Sleeping Beauty, let's get you to bed," he chuckled, sliding smoothly out of her grasp without waking her and scooping her moderately-sized frame into his arms. She felt heavier than she looked, but muscle weighed more than fat and she tended to defy all appearances. She felt _solid_ , and it occurred to him that she might like it rough. She was definitely built for it.

He took that thought and pushed it down deep, where the sexual frustration was mounting like water behind a floodgate. He might have to relieve the pressure on his own later, when she was far, far away from his apartment. He could be patient if he tried.

Deciding not to dwell on it, Jason carried her into the bedroom, setting her down on the mattress and pulling the covers over her. He could deal with sexual tension. He could learn to love her like the little sister he never had. Hell, they were practically family already. Before he left, he could not resist leaning down and planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

Before he could react, her arms were pulling him back down towards her, and her lips met his in a very sloppy manner suggested she was operating mostly on half-sleepy instinct. A surprised "Mmph!" crashed against her lips, and in that moment Stephanie's eyes snapped open.

"Mmrft!"

She released him. He stood up rapidly and stumbled back, smashing his head against the wall and sliding down to the floor, hitting the light switch on his way down.

"Ow!"

"Sorrysorrysorry!" she babbled, sitting up quickly. "Are you alright?"

Okay, that was decidedly _not_ sisterly behavior.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he insisted, rubbing his head as he stood back up. "What the hell was _that_?"

Her cheeks turned the deepest scarlet. "That," she began nervously, "was my body getting ahead of my brain. Sorry."

"I... I'm gonna go," he decided, turning to leave. He did _not_ want to go any further down this road or he feared he would not be able to come back.

"No wait, stay!" she blurted out, and he turned back to face her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, please don't go. I don't want you to leave with everything all weird between us."

"Just pretend that didn't happen."

"That's gonna be a little difficult."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, no kidding." The thought would probably occupy him for the rest of the night at least. He shook his head. "I made a promise not to take advantage of you," he said a moment later. "I plan on keeping it."

"Hey, I'm the one who kissed you," she pointed out with a smirk. "And all I'm asking is for you to stay here and help me figure out what it means."

He sighed. "What it _means_ ," he told her, leaning against the door frame, "is that you were half asleep, and you probably thought I was Tim, and you shouldn't trust what happens when you're not fully awake. If I were to go along with this that would mean taking advantage of you."

"Oh, I definitely knew it was you," she said, biting her bottom lip. "I've been ogling your abs all night."

His face went blank. He blinked. "Okay, if we're being completely honest, I wanted to run my fingers through your hair earlier." He scratched the back of his head and looked away. "And that shirt makes you look way hotter than I thought it would."

"Okay, so we've established that there's physical attraction at least," she replied with a smile. "And we get along well enough. What's stopping you from taking me right now?"

"What I've already told you," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "You kissed me while you were half-asleep. And I don't want to go through with something we'll both regret later."

"So kiss me again," she said, standing up and advancing towards him. "I'm wide awake now." They were only inches apart, and she ran the back of her knuckles along the front of his torso, stopping just below the navel. "And let me decide for myself if I'm going to regret this later."

Well, if she wanted it so bad...

He grabbed the sides of her head and pulled her into the kiss he had been wanting to give her for the last hour, pouring all of his pent up passion into it. She was doing the same thing, and that sent a frisson of excitement all the way down his spine.

They broke a few moments later, and Stephanie told him through heavy breaths: "Okay, now listen very closely. I want you to take me, and take me _hard_." She kissed him again.

"Mm-mm," he mumbled while her lips were against his. "We should do this right. Candlelit dinner, bottle of wine..."

"I hate candles," she protested, moving her attention to his neck. "And I'm not old enough for wine." She looked him in the eyes. "But I _am_ old enough for this. So please, Jason Todd. Please lay me down on that bed and fuck the living daylights out of me."

There was nothing he wanted more in the world right now than to oblige her. Kissing her passionately, he lifted her up and carried her over to the bed to give her what she had made absolutely clear that she desired. She landed hard on the mattress, and he knelt on the floor, then grabbed her thighs and tugged them over his shoulders. He pulled up the shirt to reveal the part of her that desired attention, and dove right in.

"Gnnnnaaaaaaaahhhh," Stephanie groaned, shuddering as he sought out her clit. He flicked his tongue back and forth, ravenously and with great vigor. He discovered what she wanted through a language of grunts and moans, and her legs pressed hard against his back to signal her pleasure.

He worked his way deeper, bringing up one of his hands and slipping his middle and ring fingers inside her, where he proceeded to pump back and forth in a way that elicited all sorts of happy squeaks. The more he worked on her, however, the more it became clear that she was holding back her desire to shout to the heavens.

"The entire building belongs to me, so I don't exactly have neighbors," he told her as he bent his fingers in a 'come hither' motion. "Be as loud as you want."

"Oh my Ggggoooooooddd, keep _doing_ that!" she bellowed, and he acquiesced, curling his fingers again. She bucked her hips in the air, nearly hitting him in the face. He began pumping back and forth again, rubbing her clit with his thumb and occasionally letting his tongue join the party. He worked over her for several minutes, eventually wringing an orgasm from her, and she howled in pleasure as she clutched the sheets and squeezed his head between her thighs.

When it was over, she exhaled with satisfaction. "Okay wow, it has been _way_ too long since someone made me feel like that." She breathed again. "Actually I don't think I've _ever_ felt like that."

"Glad I could help," he replied with a smirk, standing up.

"How long has it been for _you_?"

He tried to remember. "Way, _way_ too long."

"Then allow me to return the favor," she offered, stripping off the shirt and allowing him to see her completely bare for the first time.

She had more scars than he expected. Nobody in their line of work escaped completely unscathed, but she had collected almost as many as he had. There was a little fat hanging around her belly, but most of her body was made of the kind of hard muscle that came from night after night of jumping across rooftops. In his opinion, she looked absolutely beautiful.

"Hey. Off with the pants," she ordered, and he blinked when he realized that he had been staring at her for a minute too long. He obeyed, and her eyes gleamed with desire when he stripped off his boxers. " _Wow_."

"I take it you like?" he asked, raising his arms out to his sides and tossing the boxers across the room.

Steph nodded vigorously. "Switch places," she told him, standing up. He sat on the bed, and she got down on her knees.

"You ever done this before?"

"I've eaten a hot dog or two," she remarked, grinning. Before he could raise his concerns with that statement, she gripped him with her right hand and pumped hard, and all was forgotten. "But hey, if you're the expert, tell me what to do."

"That," was all he could manage to say. "Keep doing that."

She pumped her hand up and down quickly, and he laid down flat on his back. For a beginner, she was not bad, especially when her touch electrified him as much as it did. He had stamina, but at the rate she was jerking him he might end up coming a lot sooner than he intended.

"Slower," he requested, and she obeyed. "Now spit on it."

Steph quirked an eyebrow. "Say what?"

"I said spit on it," he repeated. "Get it nice and wet."

She retained her quizzical expression but hocked one all the same in the least sexy manner possible, which somehow made it all the more attractive. "That's right. Just like that." She started speeding up again and he waved his hand. "Don't take me all the way just yet. We're just getting started."

"Understood," she replied, pumping at a slow but steady rate. "Anything else?"

"Twist your wrist back and forth," he suggested, and she did so. "Ohhhh, yes, just like that."

She kept this up for another minute or so before slowly, carefully lowering her lips down to engulf him. As her mouth slid over his penis, Jason released a long, lusty sigh that he had no idea was inside him. "Oh, yyyyeessss, keep that up. Use your tongue."

Steph obeyed, running her tongue along the underside of his cock on the way up before plunging back down and doing it again. She did not go very deep, since she lacked the experience and had yet to overcome her gag reflex, but she made up for her lack of skill with enthusiasm and the fact that he was very, very attracted to her.

"Ggggguuuuhhh," he groaned wordlessly as she continued her ministrations. "Okay, stop, stop."

She stopped. "What? Why?"

"Because," he explained between heavy breaths. "I am about to blow like a teapot. And I'd prefer to go a little longer before that happens." She let go of him, and he sat up. "Can you see my pants?"

Stephanie nodded.

"Reach in the back pocket and grab my wallet. There's a roll of condoms inside."

"Good idea," she replied, standing up to do as she was requested. She tore off one of the condoms and tossed it to him.

He ripped it open with his teeth, then pulled it over the top of his penis. It made him less sensitive, sure, but that meant that he could last longer, and he wanted to be as safe as possible. No sense in having the rest of the Bat family come after him because he got her pregnant. She probably would not appreciate that too much either.

"Hey, thanks for walking me through that," she said as she sat down next to him. "It's... been a while since I last had sex and I've never really done that before."

"No problem," he replied. "How long, exactly?"

"Since I got pregnant, honestly."

He sat up too quickly and his head felt light, owing to the fact that most of his blood was concentrated elsewhere at the moment. "Wait, did you say _pregnant_?!"

"Oh, I didn't tell you?"

Jason shook his head.

"It was about three years ago. Right before the quake."

"You couldn't have been more than fifteen."

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, you're not the only problem child in the bat family. I gave her up for adoption and Bruce helped set her up with a nice family and a huge college fund."

"Wait Tim wasn't..."

"The father, no. I didn't know his secret identity at that point. We hadn't even kissed."

"So you never did it with...?"

Steph shook her head. "Nope."

"Good," he replied, grinning. "That means I finally have something to hold over his head." Before she could voice any objections, he leaned over and kissed her.

She giggled, then climbed on top of his lap and grabbed his cock in a firm grip. He was about to tell her to slide it in gently when she plunged down on top of it, engulfing him in one smooth motion.

"Nnngh!" she grunted, then began to thrust her hips up and down, pushing on his chest so that he was lying flat on the bed once more. After she had proven to him that she was anything but fragile, he grabbed her by the hips and began thrusting upward in time with her downward movements, and the smile on her face grew wider.

Jason was beginning to wonder how little Timmy would have ever survived if he and Steph had consummated their relationship. _He_ could barely handle the woman she had suddenly turned into. Stephanie Brown was a firecracker when she wanted to be, and she kept finding new ways to dispel all his preconceived notions about her.

He was beginning to think she had no surprises left when she began gyrating her hips in a circle, spinning his penis around like a joystick. That settled it. She had to have watched porn at least once in her life.

She started bouncing up and down faster. "This," she explained between breaths, "isn't my first rodeo, cowboy. You don't... need to worry about... breaking me."

Okay, maybe more than once. Who was this woman and where had she been all his life?

"Are you sure you haven't had sex in three years?"

"Not with someone living. But they make these wonderful things you can buy online that hit all the right places."

He collapsed on his back and laughed out loud.

"Now fuck me harder!"

Grunting savagely, Jason stood up with her still attached and rammed her up against the opposite wall, taking care not to hit her head against it too hard. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he proceeded to thrust into her with a ferocity that he usually reserved for killing sprees. She bit into his neck and traced shallow scars like shards of silver moonlight along his back with her nails, which only motivated him to pound her harder.

"Yes!" she shrieked into his ears. "Keep doing that! Keep pounding me like that! Yes, yes, yes, yes AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" She slammed her head into the wall as she surrendered to the orgasm, riding it hard. "Keep going!"

As if he wanted to do anything else.

Any further shouts were lost against his lips as he pressed them over hers. They made out sloppily while he continued to thrust. The wall started to crack, so he turned her around and set her back on the bed without ever separating.

He spread her legs apart and thrust deeper, pounding her into the mattress. She wailed long and hard, and before long he felt himself succumbing. He let out a long, savage howl as he released everything into her, halted only by the condom. All the pain, all the rage, all the frustration he had been feeling seemed to flow out of him, and for a few fleeting moments, Jason felt content.

Then he felt empty and vacant, and he crashed into her, sighing as he broke against her shore. He would not allow himself to dip so low as to cry after sex, but he surrendered himself to her all the same, and she held him tight as he slowly filled himself up again.

Eventually he pulled out of her and rolled over, pulling off the condom and tossing it on the floor.

"... _Fuck_ ," Stephanie breathed after a few moments.

"Yeah."

"I feel like I need a cigarette," she confessed. "And I don't even _smoke_."

"That was good, then?"

"It was _amazing_ ," she replied, pressing herself against him. "But that was just the warm-up round. Next time we shoot for thirty minutes."

"Next time?"

"Oh come on. You _cannot_ be that passionate and not have a second round in you."

"I do," he insisted, finally getting his breath back. "Just give me a few minutes."

* * *

"If I can't walk right today I'm blaming you," Stephanie informed him as they loaded the groceries into Jason's car. They had kept fucking until they ran out of condoms the night before, which at least gave her a means of counting since it all started to blur together after a while. Today she felt sorer between her legs than that time she'd landed on one of the parallel bars in the Batcave. The rest of her felt blissful and relaxed, though, so it was worth it.

Jason laughed and hopped in the driver's seat, while she entered via the other door. He started the car and headed in the direction of her house. "Hey, anal was _your_ idea."

"And it felt _awesome_ , thank you very much. I'll have to bring the proper equipment next time so I can return the favor."

"I like trying new things," he said with a shrug.

"Wow, I was just trying to freak you out, but that's good to know."

He laughed. "Growing up in this neighborhood, you get a bit of an education."

"Are you telling me you turned tricks?"

Jason shot her a sour look. "When I was what? Ten? Times weren't _that_ desperate."

"Point taken. So what _did_ you mean?"

"I knew a _lot_ of the corner girls. They used to gossip about what their clients were into."

"In front of kids?"

"No one who grows up poor stays a kid for long. Anyway, there was this one business guy who could _not_ get enough of Tia and her nine inch strap-on. She said he could take it deeper than she could."

"And I thought _I_ had an interesting childhood."

They reached their first red light, and inertia jerked her forward slightly as the car creaked to a stop. "You know, Batman and I foiled Cluemaster a few times back in the day."

She slowly craned her head over to look at him.

"Talk about a cakewalk. At least with Riddler you occasionally had to think about it. Batman actually let me figure out the clues myself. Wouldn't say a word—just stood there and let me come up with the solution."

"Yeah, dad was pretty small-time. It's a wonder he got Batman's attention at all."

The light turned green, and he slowly accelerated. "I remember one time we caught him trying to steal counterfeit bills. The way he figured it, no one would report missing funny money unless they wanted to get arrested for making the stuff."

Jason frowned. "Before we could call in the usual anonymous tip, he said something to Batman. 'I told my little girl I'd be home in time for dinner,' he said. 'I can't break my promise to her, Batman, not again.'"

"I remember that night too," she said, glowering at the dashboard. "He never did make dinner."

"Bastard tried to use you as emotional leverage. Batman saw through it right away, too; told Cluemaster that if he really cared about his daughter he'd commit himself to reforming in prison."

"Let me guess: he didn't go for it."

He shook his head. "He said you weren't important enough to go straight for; just an obligation. A burden. That you were only alive and well because he allowed it."

Stephanie visibly tensed, then exhaled slowly. "Not surprising. What else did he say?"

"Nothing. That was around the time I broke his jaw."

She stared at him, unsure of how to feel.

"I'm not expecting a thank you, by the way. I didn't even know you."

"Well, if I'd been there I would have. Probably would have helped with the dressing down you got from Batman."

"Actually, he didn't say a word. But I swear I saw him smile just a tiny bit."

She laughed. "He really does care."

By this time they had arrived at her neighborhood. They were about five hundred yards from her front door.

"Better stop here," she suggested, and he obeyed. She gathered the groceries in her hands and smiled. "I had... an amazing time last night," she confessed, smiling. "Even though it was the last thing I expected. So, thank you for that."

"Hey if you ever wanna do it again, you know where to find me."

She grinned. "I'd give you a goodbye kiss, but I know everyone on this street, and they report back to my mom," she told him. "Till next time, okay?"

Jason smiled as well. "Till next time," he echoed, then drove off.

As she watched him go, Stephanie's heart bloomed inside of her and she felt lighter than air. She practically skipped back to her house, taking care not to jostle the groceries, a wide smile on her face the whole time. After everything she had been through in the last year, a relationship was the furthest thing from her mind, but a wild night of animal passion had turned out to be just what she needed.

And if she ever needed it again, well, like Jason had said: she knew where to find him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> This is the first fic I'm choosing to post on this site, but it's actually the end result of about six years worth of fic writing experience. I chose the Jason/Steph pairing because I liked it but I didn't see too many fics with it, so I wrote my own.
> 
> This is the lead-in to a larger series, which I'll be posting next. Please let me know what you think!
> 
> UPDATE 08/04/2015: So I've pretty much rewritten this whole thing, for basically no other reason than rereading it kept driving me crazy. I hope you enjoy the updated version.
> 
> A non-exhaustive list of things that have changed:
> 
> \- Expanded the fight scene and made it more brutal. I've gotten better at writing action in the last few years and I wanted to update it.  
> \- I had Jason leave the gang leader alive instead of killing him. There was too much of a logic gap in the original because Stephanie honestly wouldn't jump into bed with someone who killed a person right in front of her.  
> \- Destroyed the idea of Jason living in a run-down crackhouse. Instead I came up with the idea of him buying the building where he was squatting when Batman first found him and doing renovations on it.  
> \- Replaced large swathes of Jason and Steph's conversation. Removed the bit about cockroaches entirely.  
> \- Expanded the sex scene a bit  
> \- Basically rewrote the end scene, added a bit about Jason's past experiences with Cluemaster.


End file.
